Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Buried Treasure: Nero Wolfe

With a daily and Sunday strip that debuted at the end of November 1956, Nero Wolfe only managed to last for less that a year and a half before its cancellation. Created by mystery writer Rex Stout in 1934, the overweight armchair detective and his wise cracking legman, Archie Goodwin, were featured in a series of thirty nine novels and thirty nine short stories. Wolfe, an eccentric beer drinking food connoisseur who grew orchids, solved crimes with the help of his savvy assistant all from behind a desk in his historic Brownstone. A small syndicate known mainly for licencing popular characters, Columbia Features, produced the strip ghostwritten by John Broome and illustrated by Mike Roy. Despite being well drawn and good scripts, the strip never caught on with an audience. Other creators that worked on the feature included Pete Hoffman, Fran Matera, Mike Peppe, Ed Herron, and Jim Christiansen. Even thought the series died quickly, Columbia continued to offer the feature for years hoping for another chance until ending its ad in Editor and Publisher until 1972.